After 40 years of social engineering, STILL black children from wealthy homes perform below White children from low income homes. Liberals are still making excuses, trying to fuzz and fog, but the facts are there.
Here is a recent one. Keep in mind that Blacks do comparatively well until the fourth grade, and then the gap just keeps widening. Note the reference to fourth graders. More liberal fuzz and fog. Nothing has changed.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/page1/ledger/158ce13.html
Study finds race matters in test scores
01/12/02
BY JOHN MOONEY
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
White students do a lot better on standardized tests than their black and Hispanic peers, even when the students come from similar schools and income levels, new state data show.
An analysis of New Jersey’s first-ever school-by-school test data broken down by race found the white students’ overall passing rates last year were twice that of black and Hispanic students on some tests. The results for Asian students were often the highest of all groups.
On the eighth-grade math exam, for instance, 74 percent of the whites passed, compared with 29 percent of the blacks and 39 percent of the Hispanic students. Among the Asians tested, 83 percent passed.
And even when income differences were taken out of the calculation, the so-called “achievement gap” persisted.
For example, among one set of comparable middle-class districts, 89 percent of white students were found proficient in the state’s fourth-grade language arts test last year. The passing rate was 70 percent for black students, and 77 percent for Hispanic children. Asian students passed at a better than 91 percent rate.
On some parts of the state’s three standardized tests, white students in the state’s neediest districts did nearly as well as African-American children in far wealthier communities, according to the data released yesterday.
“This is a huge problem and will never be solved by a single solution,” said William Librera, New Jersey’s incoming education commissioner. “We need to recognize that progress can be achieved, but not by ways that we have done before.”
The state’s release of the data is expected to ignite a discussion in New Jersey that has been ongoing nationally for several years, one that has spurred countless studies to determine what lies at the heart of the differences and what can be done.
Educators vary in their diagnoses, with the most prominent research saying a combination of factors are at play, ranging from the expectations of students, families, teachers and society as a whole to biases within the tests themselves.
But for all the discussion, hard answers have been elusive, with communities at the forefront of the national efforts unable to point to dramatic gains.
“New Jersey has taken the first, critical step by identifying the extent of the problem,” said Education Commissioner Vito Gagliardi Sr., releasing the data in his last week in office.
“It’s now up to the department and local school districts,” he said, “to intensify our efforts to find solutions and implement strategies that are targeted at closing the gap in academic achievement and assuring educational equity and excellence for all our students.”
Among the steps in place are court-ordered reforms inside New Jersey’s neediest districts – many of them serving predominantly minority students – and several grant and pilot programs aimed at boosting minority achievement in all schools.
Librera said incoming Gov. James E. McGreevey’s $45-million pledge for early literacy programs is also aimed at closing the achievement gap, as many of the students lagging in the tests are the same ones who struggle with reading early in their school careers.
State officials also found some encouraging news yesterday in the data. For example, the test score differences were smaller in the fourth-grade test than in the eighth-grade exam, indicating reforms in the younger grades may be working and could ultimately show gains in the older ones.
The achievement gap has been a focus of attention in Montclair for nearly a decade, with the township now among a consortium of racially diverse districts throughout the country working to devise strategies for closing the gap.
The efforts have borne some fruit, especially in the area of language arts. For instance, officials were encouraged when 85 percent of the district’s black students in fourth grade last year passed the reading and writing section of the elementary school test.
That was still far less than the 97 percent passing rate for white students, according to state data, but well above the average for black students in comparable districts.
Montclair officials have also stressed gains that may not show up in tests scores, such as a rising number of black students taking higher-level courses and going on to college.
Funded through a $200,000 state grant last year, Montclair’s effort has centered on providing additional tutoring to students who may be lagging in the elementary schools, as well as programs outside the schools.
“We even had a group of parents going out to talk to other parents about their children taking the SATs,” said Jeanne Pryor, the district’s assistant superintendent. “Part of it is just impressing youngsters to the importance of taking the test and not being afraid of the test.”
John Mooney covers education. He can be reached at jmooney@starledger.com or 973-392-1548.
)